First up, a few corrections to last week. David Flair did appear on WWF TV in an angle where the Undertaker attacked him in Traxx while leading up to the UT-Flair match at Wrestlemania. Also, Daffney lost to Lt. Loco, who was Chavo Guerrero. Lash was Corporal Cajun. (On a side note, I really hated how they felt like all the MIA had to change their names). Finally, I was also mistaken about the conclusion to the Hancock pregnancy angle (which I’d tried to blot out of my mind). It was finally revealed that Sean Stasiak was the daddy.
Lance Storm, Proud Canadian – WCW, 2000
History
It was July 18, 2000. Nine days before, Scott Steiner had been stripped of the US title and a tournament had been set up. Tonight there would be a new champion.
In the first round, Mike Awesome defeated Postively Kanyon, Lance Storm pinned Buff Bagwell, The Great Muta defeated Vampiro, and Shane Douglas beat Billy Kidman. In the semifinals, Mike Awesome put away Muta and the Canadian Maple Leaf put Douglas away. Lance Storm put Mike Awesome away in the finals and was crowned the new US Champion.
Until Thunder.
That night, Storm came out and renamed the title the Canadian Heavyweight title (complete with sticker to cover the faceplate). Unfortunately, Storm then began insulting a fat woman, which brought Fat Chick Thriller Mike Awesome into the ring, which then brought Positively Kanyon into the ring, and then Buff Bagwell showed up. In WCW, this meant one thing – we’ve got a match!
Sure enough, later in the match, Storm and Kanyon faced off against Buff and Awesome, winning with the positive power of Kanyon’s book.
On Nitro, Lance Storm took on Hardcore champion Big Vito. One Maple Leaf later, we had a new Hardcore champion! Big Vito would get a rematch on Thunder, which Storm would also win.
On the next Nitro, Lance Storm again changed the name of a title – the WCW Hardcore title, was now the Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title. He then took on Chavo Guerrero for the Cruiserweight title. Three minutes later, Storm had added that title to his collection of gold.
Thunder saw another renaming – the Cruiserweight title was now the Canadian 100 KG and Under title. Unfortunately, World Canadian Wrestling had a bad night in store for Mr. Storm – the Cat (the commissioner at the time) decreed that Storm would defend all three belts that night.
First up was the 100 KG and Under title against Juventud Guerrera. It took Storm about four minutes, but he managed to put the Juice away. Next was the Saskatchewan Hardcore Invitational Title against Norman Smiley. Again, it took about four minutes for Storm to successfully retain, only for Storm to then get run off by guest commentator Big Vito.
Storm’s third match was for the Canadian title, and this one was against the Cat. Storm was getting into trouble until Muta entered the ring and laid the Cat out. One Maple Leaf later, and Storm had successfully retained all three titles.
Nitro saw Storm going for the final brass ring as he fought Booker T for the WCW World title. Unfortunately, Booker was able to pull out the win and deny Storm this title. After the match, we saw Jarrett and Mike Awesome insert themselves into the fracas and Storm ducked, causing Jarrett to lay out a fat woman with a guitar.
Uh-oh. A fat woman named Heidi was attacked, and the Fat Chick Thriller was on the way to avenge her injury. Thunder saw Mike Awesome taking on Lance Storm in a flag match. Unfortunately for Awesome, Heidi had a secret – she was a Canadian. She quickly helped Storm grab the flag and win the match.
This brought us to New Blood Rising, where Storm took on Mike Awesome for the Canadian title. Unfortunately, the match was to be contested under Canadian rules. Remember the Duchess of Queensbury match between Regal and Jericho? Same idea.
First, Storm brought out Jacques Rougeau as guest referee. Then, after getting pinned, Storm announced that a pin must be for a five count. Titles can’t change hands on a submission. Someone pinned for a five count has a ten count to get up so the match can continue. If both men are down and one doesn’t get up by ten, both lose. So Rougeau pounded Awesome, allowing Storm to get up and win.
On Nitro, Storm took on Awesome again, this time with the Cat as the guest referee. Carl Oulette and Elix Skipper showed up to ensure that Storm won. Lance decided that he had enough confidence in his team to start handing out belts – Oulette was now the Saskatchewan Hardcore champion and Skipper the 100 KG and under champion. Unfortunately, later in the night we saw the death of the Saskatchewan Hardcore International Title (thank heaven – Saskatchewan is hard to type) as Norman Smiley won the WCW Hardcore title from Carl Oulette.
Thunder started off well. Storm, Oulette, and Skipper defeated Gen. Rection, Lt. Loco, and Cpl. Cajun in a six man tag. The Cat then came out and started yelling for Storm to get in the ring. Storm said he’d put the Canadian title on the line against the post of Commissioner. Cat said sure, after sending the rest of the Canadians to the back. Long story short, Cat won by DQ after Oulette nailed him with the Canadian flag. And remember, titles don’t change hands on DQ.
The Cat had already vowed that his revenge would take place on Nitro. The night started as Elix Skipper successfully defended his title against Lt. Loco. The Cat then ordered Storm to defend his title in a tag match against Mike Awesome and Gen. Rection. His partner? Jeff Jarrett. Jarrett cracked Awesome with a guitar and Storm covered him for the win.
On Thunder, despite Storm’s refusal to defend his Canadian title on US soil, he wound up in a title match against Gen. Rection and Mike Awesome. With Skipper’s help, Storm once again managed to retain the title.
On Nitro things took a turn for the weird. Storm took on the Wall in a Prisoner of War tables match. What that means is that the winner got to take a member of the opposing stable “captive.” Storm easily won. The Canadians’ choice? MIA cheerleader Major Gunns. Hey, that’s who I would’ve picked, too.
Thunder had Storm and Skipper taking on Kronik. Unfortunately, the power of the Canadians was unable to overcome the High Times, and Storm was pinned. Major Gunns started laughing, which brought out General Rection, and it disintegrated into a brawl which only ended when Storm and Skipper dragged Gunns away.
On Nitro, things picked up. We got a series of interviews where Lance Storm extolled the virtues of being Canadian. Of course, behind him was Major Gunns, running on a treadmill in a tank top. Surely one of Vince Russo’s finest moments.
Things went sour on Thunder as Storm and Skipper were easily defeated by Goldberg in a handicap match. The only thing of note was that Rection came out and threw the Canadians back into the ring when they tried to avoid starting the match.
On Nitro, Rection took on Storm in a non-title match. This time, Rection had an old friend in his corner – Hacksaw Jim Duggan. Duggan opened the match by announcing his retirement and passing the torch (or in this case, flag) to General Rection. With Duggan’s help, Rection was able to pin Storm.
Thunder saw Major Gunns coming out for an interview on Mike Awesome’s Lava Lounge. Of course, this didn’t take long to break down and ended with Storm challenging Duggan and Rection to a tag match against himself and Skipper – and if the Americans won, they got Major Gunns back.
The tag match happened, but since Duggan was knocked out backstage, it was more of a handicap match. Rection submitted before Duggan could limp out to the ring. After the match, Rection demanded a rematch at Fall Brawl – for both the title and Major Gunns.
Fall Brawl had a promising start as Skipper defeated Kwee Wee to retain the 100 KG and under title. Lance Storm then took on Gen. Rection for the Canadian title with Jim Duggan as the outside enforcer. What happened? Remember, this is WCW – Duggan nailed Rection with his 2×4 and declared himself a proud Canadian. Scott Hudson then got off the line of the night by damning Duggan to Canada.
The roll continued on Nitro as Storm, Duggan and Skipper took on Rection, Cajun, and Loco in a six man tag. Duggan’s 2×4 saved the day and Team Canada got a win in front of their home country (well, except for Duggan).
Thunder saw Duggan preparing to trash a US flag, only to have Rection run in a cover the flag with himself as the Canadians pounded on him.
Things didn’t go as well on Nitro. First, Major Gunns entered herself in a bikini contest, and Duggan had to retrieve her. Then Storm faced Sting in a non-title match and found himself on the receiving end of a Scorpion Deathdrop.
On Thunder, Skipper and Duggan lost a tag match to O’Haire and Jindrak of the Natural Born Thrillers after Major Gunns shoved Skipper off the top rope. Thrillers leader Mike Sanders then announced that he had a cruiserweight shot on Nitro, but thought Skipper needed a warm-up match. Kronik came out and obliterated Skipper.
Lance Storm had better luck, teaming with Jeff Jarrett against Rection and Lex Luger. The match ended in shenanigans, as Luger turned on Rection and Storm got the submission with the Maple Leaf.
Nitro saw the death of the 100 KG and under belt, as Skipper lost and Mike Sanders became the WCW Cruiserweight champion (with the help of a powerbomb from Coach Kevin Nash).
Lance Storm had had enough. He takes one night off, and Skipper loses the belt. Storm then got booked in a match against Mike Sanders to try and bring the Cruiserweight belt home. Everything was going according to plan until Rection came out and distracted him, allowing Sanders to get the win.
After this, things stayed the same until Halloween Havoc. At the pay-per-view, Rection finally beat Duggan and Storm to win both the US title and Major Gunns.
On Nitro, Storm demanded a rematch. Rection granted it – at Mayhem, it would be Rection vs. Storm for the US title. On Thunder, Skipper challenged (and defeated) Cpl Cajun, and Storm finished the night by pinning Norman Smiley.
Things changed on the November 13th Nitro. Storm got his rematch early and defeated Rection… with the help of Major Gunns, who’d apparently decided she enjoyed that Canadian way of life.
On Thunder, we saw a welcome return – the Canadian sticker was back on the US (now Canadian) title. Storm wasted no time in challenging Booker T for a world title shot. After Booker retained, he single-handedly laid out all of Team Canada (including Major Gunns).
Lance Storm and Gen. Rection finally met at Mayhem in a match billed as the last time they would fight over the US/Canadian title. Bad decision on Lance’s part, as Rection won the title.
After this, Team Canada started to wander. Eventually they would add Mike Awesome to their number and kick out Jim Duggan.
Analysis
It’s the same old story in WCW. They start to build up a major faction, and then the feud end and the guys have nothing to do. That was exactly what happened here. Things started off red-hot with Lance Storm capturing three belts, then there was a stable forming around him. Then Carl Oulette dropped the hardcore title, and he and Jacques disappeared soon thereafter. They wandered into the MIA feud, which dragged on and on with Russo Swerves like Jim Duggan and Major Gunns turning heel for no reason.
TNA’s Team Canada has fared better. At least they haven’t had members begin disappearing. WCW’s Team Canada withered down to Lance Storm and Elix Skipper, then held on life support until the MIA feud fired up over Major Gunns. After that, the group just started wandering again.
Where are they now?
Lance Storm recently retired from active wrestling competition, saying that his match at ECW’s One Night Stand PPV would likely be his last. He has returned home to Calgary to open his own training school. His website is at http://www.stormwrestling.com.
Elix Skipper is in TNA, now known as Primetime.
(Pierre) Carl Oulette had a brief stint in TNA as X, the masked X Division champion. Since, he has returned home to Canada, where he works with the Internet Wrestling Syndicate.
Jacques Rougeau has retired from the ring and now runs a wrestling promotion in Montreal. Also, Rougeau has become very active with the cause of suicide prevention. His website is http://www.jacquesrougeau.com.
Jim Duggan remains active on the indy scene. Most recently, he has been mentioned in the formation of NWA Ohio’s World Wrestling Association.
Major Gunns still appears in wrestling rings under her real name of Tylene Buck. After WCW closed, she appeared in XPW as the Sandman’s manager. She also put in an appearance in the Backyard Wrestling video games.
From the Mailbag
This week, I wanted to throw in a story from reader Peter Von Erik:
“I was really digging the oddness of the angle and especially Daffney and Crowbar’s work. I got to see them live at a house show during their tag team reign (facing the
Harris Brothers), which was an awesome experience. I yelled “Daffney, I love you!” and she looked right over at me and let out a trademark scream. I still have no idea how she didn’t lose her voice. Also, Crowbar came out to play to the crowd after tagging in
David and I managed to duck past security and pat him on the back and pose with him for people’s pictures. He even rubbed my head. After the show, my friends and I saw them leaving in a rental car and chanted “GREAT MATCH” at them (and honestly, it was the best Harris Bros. match I can remember)”
No way I can possibly top getting Daffney to let loose a scream at you. Keep those requests and stories coming!
Next Week
The Brothers in Paint explode!
